A murder victim's nephew on trial for series of sex attacks has admitted he is a drug dealer but denied he is a rapist.

Prosecutors claim Omar Sharif - a nephew of takeaway boss Tipu Sultan, 32, who was shot dead in his shop in South Shields - has carried out sex attacks on four young women, which he denies.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 23-year-old Northumbria University undergraduate, who drove a Mercedes sports car with personalised number plate, was "no ordinary student" but was a serial sex attacker and drug dealer who told lies about being at the scene of his uncle's murder in a bid to gain sympathy.

Prosecutor Gavin Doig has told jurors: "He is still only 23. His youth, however, has not prevented him, we say, from ensnaring vulnerable young women with free drugs, or continuing to supply them even when they were in debt to him, so as to abuse them sexually and assist others in doing so."

It is claimed Sharif carried out his own sex attacks on victims but also arranged for vulnerable women to be available as "entertainment" at parties, for men who were clients of his drugs business.

Sharif, of Brunton Terrace, Sunderland, denies sexual assault, four drugs supply offences and six charges of rape against three alleged victims, three offences of perverting the course of justice, one of attempting an offence under the proceeds of crime act and one of perjury.

From the witness box, Sharif has admitted he told a "catalogue of lies" to try and get himself out of trouble and admitted in the past he "flaunted" the wealth he had through dealing class A drugs.

He confessed he told lies even to his family and said "they would disown me" if they knew he made his money through drug dealing.

Sharif told jurors: "I told them many lies but one of them was that I was receiving bursaries and grants from Northumbria University, which I was using to buy my car."

He told the court he had four or five different mobile phones and added: "It was just different lines, different drug deals, different customers had different numbers."

Sharif told the court he and other dealers would sell MDMA at "parties" or "sessions", including some held at accommodation for students in Sunderland.

It was at one of the parties that Sharif is accused of sexually assaulting one of the alleged victims.

He admitted being at the party and that drugs were available there but told jurors he "had a moment" with the woman, who he briefly kissed outside and denied any attack on her.

Sharif told jurors: "While we were talking, we were looking at each other, we had a moment where we just kissed.

"I made the first move, she kissed me. We kissed for about five to six seconds then we stopped and she said 'no, we shouldn't'."

Sharif is accused of raping a different woman at a hotel in the city and has told jurors he did have sex with her there.

His barrister Robert Woodcock QC asked Sharif: "Was it rape?"

Sharif repled: "No."

Sharif denied outright having any sexual relationship with another woman who has told jurors he raped her.

He admitted having sex with a fourth alleged victim but told jurors she was "smiling all the time" and gave him no indication that she did not consent to what happened between them.

Sharif admitted he told lies to police after he was arrested and told jurors: "I was terrified, really scared."

Sharif is on trial along with Milagros Sanchez, 25, Luke Richardson, 21, and Georgi Karaboykov, 35, and his brother Amer Sharif, 20.

Richardson, of Ponden Hill, Sunderland, and Karaboykov, of Horatio Street, Sunderland, both deny one offence sexual assault and one of rape, all on the same woman at a party in a flat.